Canary’s Cry for Sunday Nov. 23

The Chicago Tribune says artificial Christmas trees contain toxic chemicals:

CONS:

Gigantic carbon footprint. Artificial trees are usually made from petroleum and shipped from China; the pole and branches are primarily made of steel while the needles are made with polyvinyl chloride (PVC), also known as vinyl, or polyethylene (PE).

PVC is not biodegradable and can’t be recycled; if incinerated, the PVC in the trees emits dioxins and other carcinogens. The manufacture of PVC also creates dioxins.

Phthalates are used to manufacture PVC plastic. Phthalates are a chemical that have been shown to have hormone-like effects. Congress recently passed a bill banning phthalates in children’s toys.

No natural scent. Some people solve this by using aerosol sprays or pine-scented air fresheners, but the fumes from most products contain dozens of chemicals, including several classified as toxic or hazardous, according to a University of Washington study.

ScienceDaily reports that “Low concentrations of pesticides can become toxic mixture for amphibians.” A study shows ten of the world’s most popular pesticides can decimate amphibian populations when mixed together even if the concentration of the individual chemicals are within limits considered safe, according to University of Pittsburgh research. Such “cocktails of contaminants” are frequently detected in nature, the paper notes, and the Pitt findings offer the first illustration of how a large mixture of pesticides can adversely affect the environment. Study author Rick Relyea, an associate professor of biological sciences in Pitt’s School of Arts and Sciences, exposed gray tree frog and leopard frog tadpoles to small amounts of the 10 pesticides that are widely used throughout the world. Relyea selected five insecticides-carbaryl, chlorpyrifos, diazinon, endosulfan, and malathion-and five herbicides-acetochlor, atrazine, glyphosate, metolachlor, and 2,4-D. He administered the following doses: each of the pesticides alone, the insecticides combined, a mix of the five herbicides, or all 10 of the poisons. Relyea found that a mixture of all 10 chemicals killed 99 percent of leopard frog tadpoles as did the insecticide-only mixture.

The Missoulian reports, “Someone’s dumping cancer-causing chemicals in Helena’s sewers” :

HELENA - Someone is regularly dumping large amounts of a carcinogen hazardous to aquatic life into Helena’s sewers, and the chemical is killing nitrogen-eating bacteria at the city’s wastewater plant, causing the facility to discharge more than five times the permitted amount of ammonia into the ditch flowing to Prickly Pear Creek.

The discovery of chromium entering the sewage plant has prompted criminal investigation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality and the Helena Police Department.

According to the EPA, “the metal chromium is used mainly for making steel and other alloys. Chromium compounds, in either the chromium (III) or chromium (VI) forms, are used for chrome plating, the manufacture of dyes and pigments, leather and wood preservation and treatment of cooling tower water. Smaller amounts are used in drilling muds, textiles, and toner for copying machines.”

City officials detailed the problem in a group interview Friday.

After weeks of mystery punctuated by serendipity, officials identified their problem Thursday, Helena Wastewater Superintendent Don Clark said, when they and investigators were at the plant and noticed a sudden spike in the acidity of the incoming waste, which also turned a bright shade of yellow-green.

A lab test identified high levels of the particularly harmful variation known as hexavalent chromium, ending the puzzlement of the entire city wastewater staff, three consultants and several government investigators, and shifting efforts toward the criminal investigation. The dumping breaks federal, state and local laws.

Photo by worobod.

Canary’s Cry for Friday, Oct. 31

Oh the horror:

The Canary is screaming her head off about The Washington Post report on the Bush Administration making “A Last Push to Deregulate,” which will result in the easing of many environmental rules including clean air protection. The Post says, “Those and other regulations would help clear obstacles to some commercial ocean-fishing activities, ease controls on emissions of pollutants that contribute to global warming, relax drinking-water standards and lift a key restriction on mountaintop coal mining.”  The Post also says, “The burst of activity has made this a busy period for lobbyists who fear that industry views will hold less sway after the elections.”

ChicoER.com reports that school officials had to close two portable library buildings in Hamilton, California, due to mold growth. Officials didn’t know whether the library books will have to be cleaned or destroyed.

The Press Enterprise, in “Cement dust harmful, suit says,” reports on a lawsuit filed on behalf of 268 people who allege they’ve been harmed by hexavalent chromium emissions from the TXI Riverside Cement Co. plant just north of Riverside, California. Attorneys for the plaintiffs are working with Erin Brockovich-Ellis, the legal researcher made famous by the 2000 movie “Erin Brockovich.” The lawsuit filed by the Westlake Village firm of Masry & Vititoe claims the plaintiffs — people who lived or worked near the plant — have suffered from unspecified types of cancer, kidney and liver injuries, upper airway and skin irritations as well as emotional duress.

Canary’s Cry for Tuesday, Oct 21

Telegraph.co.uk has an EXCELLENT article about a family with an autistic child who’s health was dramatically improved by detoxing their house into an eco-home. The first change they made was buying an organic wool mattress, which greatly improved their son’s sleep and inspired them to make other changes: they ripped out the carpet, bought organic sheets, removed fabrics with flame retardent. The article is full of tips on creating a healthy home.

AP picked up the story of Elizabeth Feudale-Bowes, the woman with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity in Pensylvania who’s neighbors complained about the porcelain “bubble” room she and her husband installed in their back yard. The Canary Report has been following this story here, here, and here. Neighbors complained that Feudale-Bowes did not follow building permit laws, and a judge agreed, ordering the couple to dismantle the safe room by the end of the month. Says Feudale-Bowes, “If I don’t live like this [in the safe structure], my pain level is so severe that I can’t function, I can’t live, I can’t survive. It’s excruciating.”

MailOnline reports a study showing a vaccination given to babies has been linked to asthma. Experts believe the diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough jabs might provoke an immune system response which predisposes the body to the lung condition. But delaying the vaccines by two months from the recommended age dramatically reduces the risk, doctors found.

Canada’s Timmons Daily Press says not only is raw sewage flowing into the Ottawa River, so are toxic chemicals. In a memo sent to city councillors last week, deputy manager for infrastructure services Nancy Schepers stated that recent testing found at least 10 chemicals, some of them toxic, in the river that serves as the city’s main source of drinking water. At least one chemical, perfluorobutane sulfonate, can result in birth or developmental effects, affect the brain and nervous system, cause cancer and affect reproduction and fertility.

Canary’s Cry for Monday, Oct 20

Over the weekend:

The Marin Independent Journal reports that environmental scientist Sandra Steingraber, hailed by the Sierra Club as “the new Rachel Carson,” spoke Saturday at the 19th Bioneers Conference in San Rafael on the link between toxic chemicals in the environment and cancer. Marin has one of the highest rates of breast cancer in the state, and organizations such as Zero Breast Cancer are calling for accelerated exploration into its possible causes, including environmental factors. Steingraber’s book, “Living Downstream: An Ecologist Looks at Cancer and the Environment,” won the Jenifer Altman Foundation award for “the inspiring and poetic use of science to elucidate the causes of cancer.”

MCS America posts an excellent article on environmental hazards around the house published at SFGate.

SFGate also reports on regulators in the Bay Area Air Quality Management District clamping down on fireplace wood burning between November and February as a way to meet a new federal law limiting the amount of breathable, fine particles. The report points out that “During the winter months and under certain weather conditions, burning wood in households contributes up to one-third of the total fine particulate matter in the air on the worst Bay Area nights and threatens health, according to regulators.”

CBC News reports that toxic status is possible for bisphenol A in Canada. “It is concluded that bisphenol A be considered as a substance that may be entering the environment in a quantity or concentration or under conditions that constitute or may constitute a danger in Canada to human life or health,” officials from Health Canada and Environment Canada wrote in Friday’s issue of Canada Gazette, the federal government’s official newsletter.

Canary’s Cry for Wednesday, Oct. 15

SFGate reports that “Some bottled water toxicity shown to exceed law.” The Environmental Working Group tested 10 brands of bottled water and found that Wal-Mart’s Sam’s Choice contained chemical levels that exceeded legal limits. The tests discovered an average of eight contaminants in each brand. Four brands besides Wal-Mart’s were contaminated with bacteria. The environmental group filed a notice of intent to sue Wal-Mart Tuesday, alleging that the mega-chain failed to warn the public of illegal concentrations of trihalomethanes, which are cancer-causing chemicals.

And the Environmental Working Group also popped up on German news today about a panel discussion in Boston (!). EWG tested newborn babies at the moment of birth and found 200 manmade chemicals, the result of lax laws that do not properly regulate toxic chemicals. EWG is seeking to pass the Kid-Safe Chemical Act to overhaul the current chemical regulatory laws and make products safer for children. The panel discussion focuses on the impact of those chemicals on children, the importance of consumer product ingredient disclosure, and the long overdue need for improved legislation.

InjuryBoard.com says the “FDA won’t regulate toxic chemicals in baby bottles, so attorneys general take direct action.” Attorneys general from New Jersey, Delaware, and Connecticut sent letters to 11 companies that manufacture baby bottles and formula containers, asking them to voluntarily stop using the chemical bisphenol A (BPA) to produce these products because of the chemical’s potential threat to infant health.

The Center for Public Integrity uncovers the “EPA’s hormonal ups and downs,” noting that it might be a first, but environmental advocates agree with the chemical industry for once, saying that the Environmental Protection Agency’s new Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program is flawed.

Photo by Muffet

Canary’s Cry for Monday, Oct. 13

WCSH6.com carries an AP release on Johns Hopkins scientists who report that high levels of a noxious gas from stoves can be added to the list of indoor pollutants that aggravate asthma symptoms of inner-city children, especially preschoolers.

The LA Times reports on how people in China also suffer from indoor air pollution because of stoves and smoking. The air inside lower-class homes is up to 10 times worse than the gloom outside, researchers say.

StarTribune.com in Minneapolis-St.Paul Minnesota reports on problems caused by people sitting around the back-yard fire pit: some neighbors are up in arms over the health risks from the smoke.

StarTribune.com also reports on biomonitoring to measure chemicals directly in people’s bodies: their blood, urine, hair and other body tissues and fluids. Studies are looking for arsenic in people in south Minneapolis and 3M chemicals in the east metro, another study will test mercury levels in newborns’ blood. A fourth test will check the urine of pregnant women for a group of seven compounds called phenols, found in a wide variety of items from plastics to personal care products.

Bloomberg.com carries a story on the mold problems in Galveston one month after Hurricane Ike.

SCTV news in Orange County, California, warns about unhealthful air quality caused by the wild fires.

Photo by Gypsy D

Canary’s Cry for Sunday, Oct. 12

A new feature on The Canary Report: Recent news worthy of a Canary’s Cry.

Here’s the alarm call for Sunday, Oct 12:

The Standard Speaker reports on “A body at war,” the story of a veteran of Desert Storm and Desert Shield who now suffers from multiple sclerosis or MS. My heart breaks when I hear stories about chemically injured veterans.

Local10.com finds “Mold Forces Hundreds of Students Out of Dorms” at Florida Memorial University. Gross out warning.

RedOrbit says South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported on Thursday: “South Korea is the Largest User of Farm Chemicals Among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Members.”

AP reports that “Mexican marijuana cartels sully US forests, parks.” Seems herbicides and pesticides are being used to grow pot in National Forests, resulting in horrendous damage.

In other forest news, Eonline blares the headline “Britney Sees the Forest for the Perfume.” The pop star’s new perfume Hidden Fantasy has the tagline “What do you have to hide?” and is being marketed as a “seductive scent that is all about expressing the many mysterious sides of a woman.” I have no idea what this has to do with forests, although the promo photo has her looking like a tree hugger, literally.

FT.com, out of the UK, reports in “Making scents of the male market” that more than 40 new men’s scents are being launched in the US market alone this year. Oh goodie, I can hardly wait.

Link to photo by emingus